Sir Elton John almost landed a tough guy role in Matthew Vaughn's new action movie Kingsman: The Secret Service, opposite Oscar winner Colin Firth. The director admits he wrote a cameo for the rocker and then abandoned the idea because he didn't think it would work in the film.
He tells ABC News Radio, "I was umming and ahhing 'cause it had a whole fun subplot about celebrities being kidnapped. And I had an idea of, who's the worst celebrity you'd want to have locked in a cell? And I came up with Elton John.
"(I thought about) having Elton John throwing these huge tantrums, and then I wanted to do an action scene of Elton John kicking the living daylights out of people.
"I just got uncomfortable with, 'How do you have celebrities playing themselves? Opposite famous actors playing another role?' The suspension of disbelief suddenly becomes harder to pull off."

Actor Colin Firth was proud of the injuries he received while filming upcoming action movie Kingsman: The Secret Service, because his bumps and bruises proved he had performed his own stunts on set. The Oscar winner wanted to show his friends and fellow actors that he was brave enough for a tough-guy role in the film, so every time he sustained an injury he documented it.
Firth tells U.K. TV host Lorraine Kelly, "We had loads (of injuries) but I was so proud of them, they are trophies and because there was always this doubt that anyone was going to believe that I was doing it... if anyone got a bruise, and certainly if I got a bruise, it was photographed.
"It wasn't, 'Get the nurse!' It was, 'Get the camera, show the bruise or the broken tooth'. So I think we were all absolutely delighted if we had something to show for it."

Russell Crowe's directorial debut The Water Diviner looks set to dominate the upcoming Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards after scoring eight nominations.
The World War II drama, which marks Crowe's first stint behind the camera, landed him both a Best Film nomination and a nod for Best Lead Actor at the AACTA awards, Australia's version of the Oscars.
The movie also scored nods in the categories for Best Supporting Actor (Yilmaz Erdogan), Best Supporting Actress (Jacqueline McKenzie) and Best Original Screenplay, as well as mentions for editing, production and costume design.
Ethan Hawke's sci-fi thriller Predestination also looks set to be a big winner with nine nominations, going up against The Water Diviner in categories including Best Film, while another major contender is The Rover, with seven nods.
Guy Pearce is to compete with Crowe for the Best Lead Actor trophy for his role in the dystopian drama, while his co-star Robert Pattinson leads the Best Supporting Actor category.
Other nominees in the Best Film category along with The Water Diviner and Predestination include horror movie The Babadook, The Railway Man, starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman, Charlie's Country, and Mia Wasikowska's Tracks. INXS drama INXS - Never Tear Us Apart scored multiple nominations in the TV categories including a Best Lead Actor In A Television Drama nod for Luke Arnold for his role as tragic singer Michael Hutchence.
The awards will be handed out at a ceremony in Sydney, Australia on 29 January (15).

Actor Mark Strong has dismissed reports suggesting he will be playing the villain in the next James Bond movie, insisting a hiking vacation he took with old pal Daniel Craig was behind the latest casting rumours. The two Brits set off to walk across the Atlas Mountains in Africa recently and when a photograph of the friends hit the Internet, 007 casting speculation quickly followed.
Strong tells WENN, "Daniel is a very good friend of mine. We've known each other for years and he's a godfather to my eldest child. The reason these rumours came about is because recently we went on a walking tour together in the Atlas Mountains. We took some time off to have some friend time; we hadn't seen each other for ages. Busy schedules mean you can't see each other and don't see your mates for a long time. And we went walking together.
"Someone took a picture and everybody's come to the conclusion I must be the new bad guy in the new Bond movie!"
Strong admits he'd love to be considered for the role because Bond villains are almost as iconic as the superspy, but he feels he might be better suited to playing one of 007's sidekicks after transitioning from playing bad guys to spies on the big screen.
The Kick-Ass 2 star explains, "For some reason I played bad guys for a while, for a few years. I don't quite know what's happened but now it's spies!
"I was a spy in Body of Lies, a film I did with Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio; he was the head of the Jordanian secret service. In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy I was a spy. In The Imitation Game, that's coming out with Benedict Cumberbatch, I'm a spy. Secret Service that I'm doing with Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Firth, I'm another spy. I mean, it's unbelievable. I don't know quite what's happening but there's a whole spy thing going on."

Guy Pearce is set to tackle the role of The Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald opposite British actor Dominic West as Ernest Hemingway in new movie Genius. Theatre director Michael Grandage will make his feature film debut with the big screen adaptation of A. Scott Berg's award-wining biography Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, about the relationship between American novelist Thomas Wolfe, played by Jude Law, and his editor Max Perkins, who will be portrayed by Colin Firth.
Now Iron Man 3 star Pearce and The Wire actor West have joined the line-up for the movie as Perkins' other famous writers.
The film will also feature Nicole Kidman as costume designer and writer Aline Bernstein, who was romantically linked to Wolfe in the 1920s, and Laura Linney as Perkins' wife, Louise.
Production on the project is due to begin in the U.K. next month (Oct14).
The period movie will reunite Grandage with Law, who starred in the theatre mogul's West End production of Henry V last year (13), and Pearce with Kidman, who co-star in forthcoming thriller Strangerland.

Sony Pictures
Woody Allen was thrilled when Oscar winner Colin Firth signed on to star as a cynical illusionist in his new film Magic In The Moonlight - because he wrote the part of Stanley with the British actor in mind.
The filmmaker admits Firth's casting was especially sweet because he has failed to land so many of the world's top actors for his film projects. He explains, "The guys are great but they are hard to get, they are always busy. I have called (Robert) De Niro, I've spoken on the phone to Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson."
"Nicholson was going to do Hannah And Her Sisters. I wasn't thinking of Michael Caine at the time as I wasn't thinking of an English guy. It would never have occurred to me."
But when he started writing his latest project, he couldn't get past the thought of casting another Englishman, adding, "I was thinking of him as I was writing the movie and we were determined to have him, but he was scheduled to do another project."
"Fortunately for us, at the last minute his other project was postponed. Colin was the perfect person to play this because it requires a certain savoir faire (social grace). You want an elegant, good-looking person who can do the wit and can have that attitude without him getting on your nerves; someone you would like to watch for the whole movie."
Allen reveals the idea of casting Emma Stone opposite Firth came to him as he was working out: "I'm on my treadmill in the morning and I'm surfing through (TV channels) to kill the time and suddenly I would see these post-adolescent movies and think, 'Who's that girl? She's beautiful and she's very good'."
"I mentioned her name to Juliet Taylor, who casts for me, and she said, 'Yes, she's not just a pretty face. She's a very good actress'. She's very intelligent to chat with. She did such a good job she's in the (next) movie I'm doing now."
And it seems Allen is slowly getting his way when it comes to working with the world's top actors: "Now I am working with Joaquin Phoenix, a great actor, and Sean Penn... I would love to work with Kevin Spacey."

Hollywood stars Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg have formed a pact to be nice to each other's fans as moviegoers often confuse the two actors. Wahlberg hit headlines last year (13) when it emerged a fan approached him in a street and asked for a photograph, thinking he was Damon.
He obliged and later made light of the incident by linking to the image on his Facebook.com page alongside the cheeky message, "Close enough."
Now Good Will Hunting star Damon has revealed they are often mistaken for each other, but have agreed to play along when approached by confused fans.
He tells U.K. talk show host Graham Norton, "I get confused with him all the time. We talked about it years ago because it kept happening. We have a deal. And the deal is, if you're mistaken for the other guy you have to be extremely polite. I can't ruin his name, so when I'm Mark Wahlberg I have to be on my best behaviour!"
Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville, who is also a guest on this week's (ends14Feb14) show, reveals he is also often mistaken for other famous faces - including Diana, Princess of Wales' former butler Paul Burrell.
He says, "There is a confusion. In my younger days, when I had cheekbones, it was Colin Firth and latterly it's Paul Burrell!"
The show is due for broadcast in the U.K. on Friday (14Feb14).

Miramax
A brand new Bridget Jones book hits shelves in October, but fans are already in a rage about recently released extracts that deal with the current state of Bridget's relationship with barrister Mark Darcy. (Massive spoilers here.) If the third book in the series gets a movie adaptation, we don't like what this means for Colin Firth's role.
And what would any Bridget Jones movie be without Mr. Darcy? Mark is everything a rom-com love interest should be: solid and reliable; able to pull off a reindeer jumper as well as an expensive suit; and fond even of our "wobbly bits." Much like his Jane Austen namesake, Mark takes a while to warm up to strangers. But, once he does, you can count on him to defend you from psychological attacks by "smug marrieds" and to politely disregard every terrible thing you ever wrote about him in your diary. Plus, you know: Colin Firth. In no particular order, here are the Mark Darcy moments that had us (and dear Bridge) all aflutter.
When he liked us...just as we are
Bridget is used to apologizing for her flaws, until Mark tells her that he is fond of her because of them, not in spite of them. For someone who feels like she doesn't deserve happiness until she changes all the things she doesn't like about herself, it's a revelation.
No, really...Just as we are
This is the dream, people. This is the dream.
When he fought for our honor
Mark is always willing to throw down to defend himself and his lady love, even though he doesn't have a clue how to do so. We're guessing he didn't exactly have a rough-and-tumble coming-of-age experience in the series of fancy private schools he attended. But what his fighting style lacks in grace, power, and agility, he makes up for in heart.
When he was helpful in the kitchen
"This really is the most incredible s**t."
When he showed us how nice boys really kiss
Every romantic hero needs to be able to deliver that epic movie kiss. "Cold fish" Mark Darcy warms up just soon enough to catch Bridget before she leaves for Paris and sweep her off her feet. And he's not at all embarrassed that she's in leopard print underwear and trainers. What a guy.
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We can picture a young John Wells, staring merrily out of a classroom window in grade school, dreaming of his future in show business. "Someday," he said, "I'm going to make a movie. And it's going to have Julia Roberts, and Meryl Streep, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and a Star Trek villain, and the guy who shot Kevin Spacey." We realize that there might be some anachronisms in there, but we'll chalk it up to clairvoyance on the boy Wells' part. After all, he was right. August: Osage County is only the director's second feature film, and he has amounted an ensemble cast that would make Garry Marshall revert to the behaviors of a Tex Avery cartoon wolf.
The Weinstein Company
From the looks of the new trailer, the family drama might seem like surprisingly weightless material to amount such a stellar troupe, which alongside Roberts, Streep, Ewan McGregor (the Kenobi), Benedict Cumberbatch (the Trek baddie), and Chris Cooper (the Spacey killer — American Beauty), also includes Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Juliette Lewis, Sam Shepard, and Abigail Breslin. But the play on which the film is based (playwright Tracy Letts is also handling the film adaptation's script) has earned a great deal of positive attention from rave reviews and a handful of award wins. Plus, this might turn out to be one of those simple dramas whose performances alone make it unforgettable.
Check out the trailer, and catch August: Osage County in theaters Jan. 2, 2014 (sure, the release date isn't a great sign, but not all movies that come out in January are bad).
More:Streep and Roberts Have a Drawl-Off in 'Osage County'Funcomfortable Movies: An OverviewColin Firth and Nicole Kidman in 'The Railway Man' Trailer
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War lives in you. It gets into your skin and burrows its way down, deep. It festers and lives on long after graves are dug and treaties are inked. In the new trailer for The Railway Man, Colin Firth brings war home, and when the chance for revenge becomes apparent, he takes it back to the pacific.
In the film, Eric (Firth) and his wife Patti (Nicole Kidman) are by all accounts, a happy couple, but under the veneer of marriage, Eric hides a dark and secret pain that begins to fester within him. Eric is revealed to be a former POW imprisoned by the Japanese after allied forces surrender their troops in Singapore. As a prisoner, he is tortured and tormented, but only survives for the promise that he might one day get his chance for vengeance. When that day comes, he goes to pay his tormentor back for all the wrongs he suffered. But will killing the man bring him solace.
The Railway Man premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and looks to be a sprawling war story spanning different continents and time periods, from damp England, to the sweltering Asian jungle. Beyond all of that, it looks like a film about releasing your demons and finally letting the stain of vengeance wash away.
More:Samuel L. Jackson in Colin Firth's New Movie'Parkland' TrailerNew 'Diana' Trailer
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